Currie said attendance was down when the championship was moved to Moncton. He said an escape clause allowed the group to pull out.

"On average, we would do 5,000, 6,000 people here in Halifax over our years of hosting and in some years, much more than that depending on who was in the event. In Moncton it was 3,300 or 3,500, I don't have the exact numbers," he said.

Currie said Moncton's decision to move the game to Friday from Saturday hurt attendance.

"Really what we lost by moving to the Friday evening game was we lost that Nova Scotia/PEI crowd. The ability for people to travel in from other provinces were taken away from us with that move."

He told CBC News the game will likely be hosted in Nova Scotia in 2013, but it's not clear where.

The Uteck Bowl, formerly known as the Atlantic Bowl, is the eastern championship for university football.

The championship is named after the late Larry Uteck, a football star, university coach and Halifax city councillor.

Former councillor Sue Uteck, Larry Uteck's widow, said the CIS made a bad decision when they moved the bowl out of Halifax.

Uteck said Halifax needs to upgrade its infrustructure, specifically Huskies Stadium where the Uteck bowl used to be held, but she says other venues in Nova Scotia could also work.

"Obviously the prime choice right now would be Raymond Field in Wolfville. It's a beautiful stadium. It would be ready to host and you know — of course as a homer — I would love to have it in Halifax, but are we ready? Have we marketed the crowd? If we can't put that crowd in those seats, then it's another forgone conclusion that the AUS will continue to lose money."

Saint Mary's University hosted the tournament, held every two years, from 2003 to 2009.

But Halifax's football hosting duties go back even further. Before the Uteck Bowl, the Atlantic Bowl was played in Halifax regularly over three decades.